Your trip sounds awful! I am so sorry that you missed a positive NOLA experience. My first trip to NOLA was in the early 80s as a teenager, then Mardi Gras visits during college. My husband, a first responder, was on a search and rescue team within 48 hrs after Katrina. My last trip was for a Saints game after Katrina. My sis was there earlier this week. We are north louisiana natives. NOLA, as they say, is a whole other country. The Historical Society of New Orleans does wonderful, educational guided tours of the Quarter, the cemetaries, the garden district etc. New Orleans is a third world country where you are responsible for your own safety and common sense is a requirement. BUT…there is no place like it. Royal Street is a must. I’m now of the age where food is so much more important that 3 for 1 daquaris and the top five best meals of my life have been enjoyed and savored in NOLA. The music can be wonderful!! Blues, a cold cocktail on the patio, as the humid breeze blows thru the evening. Or nothing like a 100 new friends at the Cat’s Meow or a friendly jibe from a Red Skins fan as as you meet in line for beniets before the game. C’mon…NOLA brought us the Manning football dynasty, Fats Domino and Harry Connick, Jr. It has some redeeming qualities….

Plan it next time, and try it again. You may never love it, but at least give it a fair evaluation. (P.S. I would never LIVE in NOLA - 3 or 4 days a trip is about the right amount of time)

It’s a toilet, just like Vegas is a toilet. Turds tend to congregate in toilets, so it shouldn’t surprise anyone that it stinks in Nawlins.

Personally, I’d rather take vacation in Fallujah than go back to NO.

But I have to admit, the Audobon Aquarium and the D-Day Museum were very nice. And the food is everything that people claim.

Luckily, a friend who was there at the time had attended Tulane Law School and was familiar with the city’s “Go/No-Go” zones, so she was able to shepherd me around and we encountered no problems. But it was still a creepy feeling to be confined to a tiny part of the city like it was some sort of wild-life sanctuary — only the “wild life” was outside the sanctuary, not inside.

Aside from that, all I remember was that New Orleans was one of the most over-hyped places I’ve visited, right down to the vaunted jazz environment; listening to one particularly uninspired performance at a restaurant, it was all I could do to keep from jumping onto my chair and exclaiming, “When you’re through warming up, why dontcha play somethin’?”

Now my informal “polling” of Louisianians regarding NO may be wildly innacurate, but I do get the impression that NO is a unique city that is more like Singapore is to Malaysia, or Hong Kong is to China in it’s relationship to Louisiana in general.

We Americans need to be reminded from time-to-time that we are one truly “multicultural” society, and NOT in that phony, lefty victimology/oppression crappola way that is taught in schools and toughted by demagogues. New Orleans happens to be one of America’s cultural extremes, which is why it seems so “third world” to so many of us.

Also, the implicattions that Cass or some of the other respondents are racist or prejudiced because of their impressions or mindsets is nonsense. People behaving badly don’t get a pass because of their color or ethnicity.

It sounds like you went to New Orleans on the worst of all possible times. I’ve been there multiple times, beginning when I was 18, and have always enjoyed it. I have to admit I haven’t been since Katrina, but I have friends who went last year for Jazz Fest who said that the city itself was still devastated, but that the Quarter was great. My recommendation would be to go back, possibly during the St. Pat’s weekend, with a local or frequent visitor to guide you. Your experience would be completely different.

If you were to go on St. Pat’s weekend you’d have the fun of Mardi Gras without the accompanying crowds and nastiness. The St. Joseph’s day parade wends it’s way through the Quarter in the evening, while the St. Pat’s parade takes place in the Garden District during the afternoon. Plenty of beads to be had by all, with only the occasional drunk tourist shouting “show me your tits”. To merriment by all, as virtually no one does that on that particular weekend.

My recommendation would be to stay someplace like the Monteleone or one of the smaller inns in the Quarter. Stroll up Royal St. as it is either the longest or second-longest street in the world for art galleries & antique stores. I forget which. On the weekends they block it off during the afternoon and there are a lot of street performers. The most amazing one I recall was a young man playing 2 guitars - one with his feet, one with his hands. Chartres & St. Charles are also good streets to stroll.

Down on Toulouse there’s an Irish bar - O’Flaherty’s. If you like Irish music they usually have wonderful performers and the atmosphere is pretty relaxed.

Jackson Square is usually crowded with street artists doing portraits and caricatures. I’ve never had one done, but it’s fun to watch them work.

The Farmer’s Market has tons of touristy items at half off or more of the store price, if you’re interested in those sort of things. There are also tons of other merchandise to choose from.

No visit to the Quarter would be complete without a visit to the Cafe du Monde for cafe au lait and beignets. The last time we were there there was and older black musician playing sax, serenading the customers. It was wonderful.

Pat O’Brian’s is a great place to sip a cocktail at dusk. Who knows, they may pick you to light the fountain. I got to do that one year. There’s something special about watching the flames and water mix. And I love the food at Ralph & Kacoo’s (we have a franchise here!!), as well as the jazz Sunday brunch at the Court of the Two Sisters. We also enjoy the Gumbo Shop and Petunia’s.

My husband is a musician, so we end up spending lots of time going to various bars to hear live music. I don’t recall their names (there are SO MANY of them!). I think the highlight for him on our last trip was seeing Marcia Ball at the House of Blues.

In short, know that New Orleans is not a safe city. Bourbon Street has always been “nasty”, from the sex shops, strip bars, drunks, and transvestites. Avoid it if you don’t find crowds and people pathologically interesting. But there are a lot of other places to go and things to do in the Quarter that are quite enjoyable.